Monk
Hit Points
Hit Dice: d8 per Monk level
Hit Points at first Level: 8 + Con Mod
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 + Con Mod
Proficiences
Armor: None
Weapons: Simple weapons, shortswords
Tools: Choose one type of artisan's tools or one musical instrument.
Saving Throws: Str, Dex
Skills: Choose two: Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, Stealth
Class Features
Unarmored Defense
While wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
Martial Arts
Your practice of martial arts gives mastery over unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons without the heavy or two-handed property.
You gain the following benefits when unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and not wearing armor or wielding a shield:
• Unarmed strikes and monk weapons count as finesse weapons (if they weren't already), allowing you to use either Dexterity or Strength for attack and damage rolls with those weapons.
• You can use a d4 in place of the normal weapon damage dice with unarmed strikes or monk weapons. This die increases as you gain monk levels, as shown on the table above.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you may make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Ki
At 2nd level, your training allows you to channel the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this power is represented by a number of ki points. You have a number of ki points equal to your monk level. When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at which point you draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. You must spend at 30minutes of the rest meditating in order to regain ki.
Some ki powers require your target to make a saving throw to resist the effects. The saving throw DCis calculated as follows:
Ki save DC= 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
You start with the knowledge of these three ki powers:
Flurry of Blows: Immediately after taking the Attack action on your turn, you may spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action
Patient Defense: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.
Step of the Wind: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn. When you do so, your jump distance is doubled for the turn
Unarmored Movement
At 2nd level, your speed increases when you are not wearing armor or using a shield. This bonus is listed on the table above.
At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move. You must end the movement on a solid, upright surface or risk falling or sinking.
Monastic Tradition
At 3rd level, you must commit yourself to one of the monastic traditions below. You tradition gives you features at 3rd, 6th, 11th, and 17th level.
Deflect Missiles
At 3rd level, you may use your reaction when you are kit by a ranged weapon attack to deflect or catch the missile. When you do so, the damage you take is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level.
If you reduce the damage to 0 in this way, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have a hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack with the weapon or ammunition as part of the same action. You make this attack with proficiency, and treat the missile as a monk weapon for this attack.
Ability Score Increase
At 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or increase two ability scores by 1 each. As usual, you cannot increase an ability score above 20 using this ability.
Alternatively, you can choose to gain a single feat of your choice.
Slow Fall
At 4th level, you may use your reaction to reduce any falling damage taken by an amount equal to 5 times your monk level.
Extra Attack
At 5th level, you can attack twice whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Stunning Strike
At 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in another creature's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.
Ki Strikes
At 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Evasion
At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain attacks, such as a dragon's breath or the fireball. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and half damage if you fail.
Stillness of Mind
At 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.
Purity of Body
At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon
At 13th level, you can touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, and creature that understands a language can understand what you say.
Diamond Soul
At 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws. Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail you may spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.
Timeless Body
At 15th level, your ki sustains so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can't be aged magically. In addition, you no longer need food or water.
Empty Body
At 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During this time, you have resistance to all damage except force damage.
In addition, you may spend 8 ki points to cast astral projection, without needing material components. When you do so, you can't take other creatures with you.
Perfect Self
At 20th level, when you roll initiative and have no ki points remaining, you gain 4 ki points.
Starting Equipment
• Choose: a shortsword; or and simple weapon
• Choose: a dungeoneer's pack; or an explorer's pack
• 10 darts
Subclass Options
Drunken Master
Bonus Proficiencies
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill if you don’t already have it. Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer and the antics of a jester. You also gain proficiency with brewer’s supplies if you don’t already have it.
Drunken Technique
At 3rd level, you learn how to twist and turn quickly as part of your Flurry of Blows. Whenever you use Flurry of Blows, you gain the benefit of the Disengage action, and your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the current turn.
Tipsy Sway
Starting at 6th level, you can move in sudden, swaying ways. You gain the following benefits.
Leap to Your Feet. When you’re prone, you can stand up by spending 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed.
Redirect Attack. When a creature misses you with a melee attack roll, you can spend 1 ki point as a reaction to cause that attack to hit one creature of your choice, other than the attacker, that you can see within 5 feet of you.
Drunkard's Luck
Starting at 11th level, you always seem to get a lucky bounce at the right moment. When you make an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw and have disadvantage on the roll, you can spend 2 ki points to cancel the disadvantage for that roll.
Intoxicated Frenzy
At 17th level, you gain the ability to make an overwhelming number of attacks against a group of enemies. When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make up to three additional attacks with it (up to a total of five Flurry of Blows attacks), provided that each Flurry of Blows attack targets a different creature this turn.
Way of the Open Palm
Open Hand Technique
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can manipulate your enemy’s ki when you harness your own. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target:
• It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
• It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
• It can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.
Wholeness of Body
At 6th level, you gain the ability to heal yourself. As an action, you can regain hit points equal to three times your monk level. You must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.
Tranquility
Beginning at 11th level, you can enter a special meditation that surrounds you with an aura of peace. At the end of a long rest, you gain the effect of a sanctuary spell that lasts until the start of your next long rest (the spell can end early as normal). The saving throw DC for the spell equals 8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Quivering Palm
At 17th level, you gain the ability to set up lethal vibrations in someone’s body. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 3 ki points to start these imperceptible vibrations, which last for a number of days equal to your monk level. The vibrations are harmless unless you use your action to end them.
To do so, you and the target must be on the same plane of existence. When you use this action, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it is reduced to 0 hit points. If it succeeds, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage.
You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time. You can choose to end the vibrations harmlessly without using an action.
Way of the Sun Soul
Radiant Sun Bolt
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can hurl searing bolts of magical
radiance. You gain a new attack option that you can use with the Attack action. This special attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Dexterity modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is radiant, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
When you take the Attack action on your turn and use this special attack as part of it, you can spend 1 ki point to make the special attack twice as a bonus action.
When you gain the Extra Attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the Attack action.
Searing Arc Strike
At 6th level, you gain the ability to channel your ki into searing waves of energy. Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 2 ki points to cast the burning hands spell as a bonus action.
You can spend additional ki points to cast burning hands as a higher-level spell. Each additional ki point you spend increases the spell’s level by 1. The maximum number of ki points (2 plus any additional points) that you can spend on the spell equals half your monk level.
Searing Sun Burst
At 11th level, you gain the ability to create an orb of light that erupts into a devastating explosion. As an action, you magically create an orb and hurl it at a point you choose within 150 feet, where it erupts into a sphere of radiant light for a brief but deadly instant. Each creature in that 20-foot-radius sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 radiant damage. A creature doesn’t need to make the save if the creature is behind total cover that is opaque.
You can increase the sphere’s damage by spending ki points. Each point you spend, to a maximum of 3, increases the damage by 2d6.
Sun Shield
At 17th level, you become wreathed in a luminous, magical aura. You shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet. You can extinguish or restore the light as a bonus action.
If a creature hits you with a melee attack while this light shines, you can use your reaction to deal radiant damage to the creature. The radiant damage equals 5 + your Wisdom modifier.
Lvl | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Martial Arts | Unarmored Movement |
---|
1st | +2 | Unarmored Defense, Martial Arts | 1d4 | — |
2nd | +2 | Ki, Unarmored Movement | 1d4 | +10 ft. |
3rd | +2 | Monastic Tradition, Deflect Missiles | 1d4 | +10 ft. |
4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement, Slow Fall | 1d4 | +10 ft. |
5th | +3 | Extra Attack, Stunning Strike | 1d6 | +15 ft. |
6th | +3 | Ki Strikes, Monastic Tradition feature | 1d6 | +15 ft. |
7th | +3 | Evasion, Stillness of Mind | 1d6 | +15 ft. |
8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d6 | +15 ft. |
9th | +4 | Unarmored Movement improvement | 1d6 | +15 ft. |
10th | +4 | Purity of Body | 1d6 | +20 ft. |
11th | +4 | Monastic Tradition feature | 1d8 | +20 ft. |
12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d8 | +20 ft. |
13th | +5 | Tongue of the Sun and Moon | 1d8 | +20 ft. |
14th | +5 | Diamond Soul | 1d8 | +25 ft. |
15th | +5 | Timeless Body | 1d8 | +25 ft. |
16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d8 | +25 ft. |
17th | +6 | Monastic Tradition feature | 1d10 | +25 ft. |
18th | +6 | Empty Body | 1d10 | +30 ft. |
19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d10 | +30 ft. |
20th | +6 | Perfect Self | 1d10 | +30 ft. |
Noble
You understand wealth, power, and privilege. You carry a noble title, and your family owns land, collects taxes, and wields significant political influence. You might be a pampered aristocrat unfamiliar with work or discomfort, a former merchant just elevated to the nobility, or a disinherited scoundrel with a disproportionate sense of entitlement. Or you could be an honest, hard-working landowner who cares deeply about the people who live and work on your land, keenly aware of your responsibility to them. Work with your DM to come up with an appropriate title and determine how much authority that title carries.
A noble title doesn’t stand on its own—it’s connected to an entire family, and whatever title you hold, you will pass it down to your own children. Not only do you need to determine your noble title, but you should also work with the DM to describe your family and their influence on you.
Is your family old and established, or was your title only recently bestowed? How much influence do they wield, and over what area? What kind of reputation does your family have among the other aristocrats of the region? How do the common people regard them? What’s your position in the family? Are you the heir to the head of the family? Have you already inherited the title? How do you feel about that responsibility? Or are you so far down the line of inheritance that no one cares what you do, as long as you don’t embarrass the family? How does the head of your family feel about your adventuring career? Are you in your family’s good graces, or shunned by the rest of your family? Does your family have a coat of arms? An insignia you might wear on a signet ring? Particular colors you wear all the time? An animal you regard as a symbol of your line or even a spiritual member of the family? These details help establish your family and your title as features of the world of the campaign.
Skill Proficiencies History, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies One type of gaming set
Languages One of your choice
Equipment A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25 gp
Features
Position of Privilege
Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk and merchants make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.
Variant: Knight
A knighthood is among the lowest noble titles in most societies, but it can be a path to higher status. If you wish to be a knight, choose the Retainers feature (see the sidebar) instead of the Position of Privilege feature. One of your commoner retainers is replaced by a noble who serves as your squire, aiding you in exchange for training on his or her own path to knighthood. Your two remaining retainers might include a groom to care for your horse and a servant who polishes your armor (and even helps you put it on). As an emblem of chivalry and the ideals of courtly love, you might include among your equipment a banner or other token from a noble lord or lady to whom you have given your heart—in a chaste sort of devotion (This person could be your bond).
Variant Feature: Retainer
If your character has a noble background, you may select this background feature instead of Position of Privilege. You have the service of three retainers loyal to your family. These retainers can be attendants or messengers, and one might be a majordomo. Your retainers are commoners who can perform mundane tasks for you, but they do not fight for you, will not follow you into obviously dangerous areas (such as dungeons), and will leave if they are frequently endangered or abused.
Suggested Characteristics
Nobles are born and raised to a very different lifestyle that most people never experience, and their personalities reflect that upbringing. A noble title comes with a plethora of bonds—responsibilities to family, to other nobles (including the sovereign), to the people entrusted to the family’s care, or even to the title itself. But this responsibility is often a good way to undermine a noble.
Traits
1d8 | Personality Trait |
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1 | My eloquent flattery makes everyone I talk to feel like the most wonderful and important person in the world. |
2 | The common folk love me for my kindness and generosity. |
3 | No one could doubt by looking at my regal bearing that I am a cut above the unwashed masses. |
4 | I take great pains to always look my best and follow the latest fashions. |
5 | I don’t like to get my hands dirty, and I won’t be caught dead in unsuitable accommodations. |
6 | Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood. |
7 | My favor, once lost, is lost forever. |
8 | If you do me an injury, I will crush you, ruin your name, and salt your fields. |
Ideal
1d6 | Ideal |
---|
1 | Respect. Respect is due to me because of my position, but all people regardless of station deserve to be treated with dignity. (Good) |
2 | Responsibility. It is my duty to respect the authority of those above me, just as those below me must respect mine. (Lawful) |
3 | Independence. I must prove that I can handle myself without the coddling of my family. (Chaotic) |
4 | Power. If I can attain more power, no one will tell me what to do. (Evil) |
5 | Family. Blood runs thicker than water. (Any) |
6 | Noble Obligation. It is my duty to protect and care for the people beneath me. (Good) |
Bond
1d6 | Bond |
---|
1 | I will face any challenge to win the approval of my family. |
2 | My house’s alliance with another noble family must be sustained at all costs. |
3 | Nothing is more important than the other members of my family. |
4 | I am in love with the heir of a family that my family despises. |
5 | My loyalty to my sovereign is unwavering. |
6 | The common folk must see me as a hero of the people. |
Flaw
1d6 | Flaw |
---|
1 | I secretly believe that everyone is beneath me. |
2 | I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin my family forever. |
3 | I too often hear veiled insults and threats in every word addressed to me, and I’m quick to anger. |
4 | I have an insatiable desire for carnal pleasures. |
5 | In fact, the world does revolve around me. |
6 | By my words and actions, I often bring shame to my family. |